THE GERMAN AS SHIP-BUILDER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7110, 23 April 1910, Page 9

THE GERMAN AS SHIP-BUILDER

"The Progress of German Shipbuilding, with special reference Jo the Lvolntion of Hie Fleet of tho Norddeut-rtcijcr-Moyd. Beilin: Bobbing and Co. Price Orf. Through tli« courtesy of "Messrs Castondyb and I'orkc, local agents tor tho famous German shipping company Iho Nord Dcut-clicr or iSortli German BloyU. no have received a copy of a most Blimptuoudly lirinUd ami illustrated work, the full Lille- of which is set lorth above. Were any proof requ ired ot tho truly marvellous advance which has been made by fcno fatherland as an ndmslrml ami manufacture;,' state durum' ho h«t thirty years it is supplied ey this JiniidHOmoly produced record of German slupbuilding enterprise ami overseas commercial piogre.-s, the pulilicat.iun of which, so wo learn Horn 11-c brief and modestly wordid preface, was .-MgKOsUnl by the interest manifested ni the j-.xlnbltion of I German Naval Architecture held in 15erliii in IIHH. A royal quarto ot over four hundred pa-gen. tho volume contains not only a complete and most detailed history of tho origin, growth, and development to iU ;>r.*---r. 1 .. stupendous proportions, of the North German Lloyd, but it. is al.-'> a. veritable cyclopaedia of iufonnalion on every possible point con- | needed with shipbuilding and mnniio cmI gineei ing. and all cognate and dependent ■ industries and enterprises. Tito first | transatlantic steamer, the Bremen, of the ! company. w:as built by tho Cairds, of 1 Greenock, in IBjB, and even for the first I tea years after the establishment of the i Gorman Empire. tlie iron shipbuilding ;yaids of the euuniry were only employed ■ m Uie eonstruclion of smaller tor ! tue Geriuuu mercantile marine. The dc- | cisivc turn came? in lb7*J, when the subsidy law came into etieet, and wiien the North German Lloyd entrusted to the j ’'Stettin Vulcan," of Bredor/, near btet- ■ tin, Uie eonstruction of the first Imperial ' Hail steamers. The chapter specially 'dealing with the building ot the comI panyT steamers is a most exiiaiu.tivc and . inaia-sung record, a record of which any 1 company and any nutiup may well be proud, lor it shows how uie gravest diineulties can be overcome if only engineering genius and uever-failiug peraever-an-ve are backed by a sufficiently generous outlay of private capital, and assisted as lias bi-en the case with the North German. Lloyd, by a policy of State encouragement, the. exact form of which may not find favour with political economists but which, in this in>ta.iu:6 at least, has borno splendidly successful fruit. A second chapter, by Hermann VVilda. describes the progress made in German shipbuilding generally and the enormous value aaid importance to the nation us a whole, of German ships being built in German yards. Following upon these articles are others in which every .detail of the building, equipment, arxl maintenance of modern passenger steamships of the first-class is described and explained. One lengthy articledeaJs specially with the development of the marine steam engine; another, accompanied by illustrations of great beamy, i.-* deyotod to "modern domestic urcnrtccture on ocean stumers,” and to the advances exhibited in painting and plastic art on tho Lloyd boats. Harbour works, light ships, mechanical apxdian-cos for loading amt working cargo, nautical instruments, safety novices on passenger steamers arc only a few: of the remaining subjects. For its illustrations alone the book form* a most desirable addition to- any library. dome are in coli our, others iu sepia and other tints, and |a‘ \a»t number in half tone. A long folding panoramic sheet shows the seclional arrangements of one of the luxurious transatlantic liners owned by the Lloyd, and is a specially fine f specimen of colour printing and engraving. Partaking though it may do, to some extent, of the nature of an advertisement for the Nord Deutscher Lloyd, thewo-rk deals with the rise ami progress of the' German mercantile marine as a whole, and is undoubtedly a work of the highest Value to all interested In modern, maritime progress. The text and descriptions of the illustrations, we may add, are in both English and German, and the price (€e) is, wo may risk the opinion, much below the actual cost of printing and illustration.